In anticipation of the global celebrations which Major Peake witnessed from the International Space Station, he snapped the picture and tweeted: “Looks like some fine weather for #England and #France for tonight’s fireworks! #NewYearsEve.”

His tweet was ‘re-tweeted’ more than 1,500 times and ‘liked’ 3,800 times.

Major Peake, who grew up in Westbourne, near Chichester, also delivered a special new year’s message from space.

He said he and his fellow astronauts aboard the ISS would be celebrating the turn of the year at the same time as everyone in the UK.

Major Peake said in the YouTube message: “With new year’s rapidly approaching, I’d like to wish everyone on our beautiful planet a fun New Year’s Eve, and a happy, healthy 2016. Happy new year.”

The former Chichester High School for Boys pupil is taking part in a six-month Principia mission which will see him perform more than 30 experiments for European scientists alone.